"Same old Bill, eh Mable!" eBook

This English Dialect Grammar was also published,
in 1905, as a separate work, and contains a full account
of the phonology of all the chief dialects, the very
variable pronunciation of a large number of leading
words being accurately indicated by the use of a special
set of symbols; the Table of Vowel-sounds is given
at p. 13. The Phonology is followed by an Accidence,
which discusses the peculiarities of dialect grammar.
Next follows a rather large collection of important
words, that are differently pronounced in different
counties; for example, more than thirty variations
are recorded of the pronunciation of the word house.
The fulness of the Vocabulary in the Dictionary, and
the minuteness of the account of the phonology and
accidence in the Grammar, leave nothing to desire.
Certainly no other country can give so good an account
of its Dialects.

CHAPTER XI

THE MODERN DIALECTS

It has been shown that, in the earliest period, we
can distinguish three well-marked dialects besides
the Kentish, viz. Northumbrian, Mercian,
and Anglo-Saxon; and these, in the Middle English period,
are known as Northern, Midland, and Southern.
The modern dialects are very numerous, but can be
arranged under five divisions, two of which may be
called Northern and Southern, as before; whilst the
other three arise from a division of the widely spread
Midland into subdivisions. These may be called,
respectively, West Midland, Mid Midland (or simply
Midland), and East Midland; and it has been shown that
similar subdivisions appear even in the Middle English
period.

This arrangement of the modern dialects under five
divisions is that adopted by Prof. Wright, who
further simplifies the names by using Western in place
of West Midland, and Eastern in place of East Midland.
This gives us, as a final result, five divisions of
English dialects, viz. Northern, Western,
Midland, Eastern, and Southern; to which we must add
the dialects of modern Scotland (originally Northern),
and the dialects of Ireland, viz. of Ulster (a
kind of Northern), Dublin, and Wexford (a kind of
Southern).

No map of dialects is here given in illustration,
because it is practically impossible to define their
boundaries accurately. Such a map was once given
by Dr Ellis, but it is only arbitrary; and Prof.
Wright expressly says that, in his work also, the boundaries
suggested are inexact; they are only given for convenience,
as an approximation to the truth. He agrees with
Dr Ellis in most of the particulars.

Many of the counties are divided between two, or even
three, dialects; I somewhat simplify matters by omitting
to mention some of them, so as to give merely a general
idea of the chief dialectal localities. For fuller
information, see the Dialect Grammar.